I have Nintendo Online and Playstation Network, I seriously don't understand what I am being offered with Playstation Network that I should be taking advantage of. The usual complaints I see are bad connection/quality, the voice chat app, missing party chat, and bad value.

Bad Connection/Quality I guess must depend on the game. I have always used ethernet so I just don't see any difference when playing Overwatch on Switch and PS4. Visually yes but connection no. Paladins and Rogue Company also have great connection for me. Smash Bros I have experienced some lag. Sounds more like a Smash problem since other Nintendo games run great online like Splatoon. So I just don't see the issue here.

Missing party chat is legit, I personally am no longer a fan because I hate getting into lobbies of games and everyone is in party chat with friends. Kind of hard to cooperate with teammates when no one is talking. Miss the good old days of toxic talk in lobbies of Call of duty. The game starts and we go at it. So yes I don't care for it but Ninty should probably add it one day.

Bad value, I don't agree with this either. Alot of you ignore the family plan because you can't admit that would be an awesome feature if Sony added it. Ninty knows it exist so they have to keep it in mind when deciding what to offer in it. Everyone gets the same benefits so I seriously pay Ninty $5 a year(7 people on my plan) I'll take that over 60 a year with games I don't care for. They are usually old so if I wanted I would not have waited. Nintendo knows up to 8 different systems could pay less than 5 dollars a year for their service without discounts or finding it cheaper. Whom ever gets the closes to zero for online multiplayer is the best value to me. 

The voice app? Who even uses that? Some of the posters truly believe you can't even voice chat on Switch lmao. News flash, only Nintendo games and a select few third parties use that app. It's completely up to the developer on whether to use that app. Fortnite, Overwatch, Apex Legends, Paladins, Rogue Company, Warface, Rocket League and nearly every other online multiplayer game on Switch supports just plugging in a headset and talk like every other system. 

In closing, I can understand someone that truly takes advantage of those free games could love Sony/Micro's value but I seriously doubt if both companies offered a lower multiplayer only plan people wouldn't jump for it. When PS3 had free online, Sonys subscribers for PSN was far lower. Online multiplayer is all the majority wants and Nintendo offers the closes to zero. So I personally don't see how they are better. 

No text chat with friends, no voice chat with friends, no parties, no achievements, no communities.

Basically all the stuff that made Xbox Live great and threw console multiplayer gaming into the forefront over a decade ago.

Does it even have a "recent players" section so if you meet someone online and have fun together you can add them as a friend after? I've never looked for it but I basically only play animal crossing solo recently lol. Not that that would do you any good because once you've added them you'll have no way of communicating.

Basically Nintendo's online service is on the level of pre-2000 PC online gaming. And they charge you for it. It has none of the features that other services provide. I love Nintendo games but their online service is a shame.

The fact that in 2021, Nintendo's online service still doesn't have the full functionality of Xbox Live on the 360 that released in 2005 is an utter disgrace. Sure one could make excuses and say things don't matter but in reality, if they are charging for online, one would think they should really have all of functionality of online services from at least 16 years ago...

They're all bad. You shouldn't need to pay to play online.

W-wow, the replies are logical and actually take into account Xbox which really did push a lot of online features way ahead of its time... lol

But yea, to reiterate what's been already said: other services offer things that require maintenance on a server side of things. Example: Xbox lets you set whatever profile pic you want which is visible to all people on all devices, so they have to store your profile pic on their servers. They do cloud saves for ALL games (though PS requires PS+ for this), they have system party/voice chat, messaging, invites, achievements, and Xbox even has communities for each game where people can post LFG if a game has no matchmaking (or if they're trying to find certain types of players for raids) etc. on top of monthly free games (some of which are not so great, but both offer a minimum of two free games per month, or 24 free games a year!).

When Nintendo COULD have justified NSO was when they had Miiverse. Sadly, they ditched Miiverse which was something I and many people enjoyed, and more importantly, enjoyed the artwork on. Instead, NSO offers literally nothing towards the functionality of "online" except gatekeeping multiplayer in which games like Smash are still peer hosted using older netcode which means many matches play like molasses. It's boiled down to simply a retro sub service, and in all truth, they really SHOULD have just marketed/themed a retro sub service. Like "Retro Pass" or something, then it might even make more sense. As it stands, what it offers in terms of "online" is a fraction and quite frankly an embarrassment next to the other two, and the mobile app also pales in comparison to the Xbox mobile app which DIRECTLY allows me to save screenshots and video captures to my phone if I want to just send it to friends privately. Yea, that means Xbox's servers also host your screenshots and video captures...

In summary, NSO and especially NSO+ are rightfully downvoted to hell because anyone with any sense of "online" functionality or is a multi-platform user is going to have a good laugh at what Nintendo is offering. I specifically only subbed to NSO so I could play MHRise multiplayer, and will let it lapse depending on when Sunbreak and Splatoon 3 release. Basically, I only play to pay for NSO when its gatekeeping a multiplayer game I want to play, otherwise it's literally useless to me as someone who had a LOT of Virtual Console titles I lost when I traded in my Wii U for a Switch. That still burns... :(

Bold: ??? Any game I start up on my Switch immediately gets saved on the cloud. What are you talking about?

About #4, there are free one week trials on NSO.

I forgot about messaging that can be annoying. Also lol at not being able to find someone to join. It's literally an email, you can find people online easy to join. Communities and achievements are ok I guess but I'll trade that for $5 a year without discounts.

I wouldn't describe it as "pick and choose" though, it's really not anywhere near close between games that do vs games that don't. Also the family plan is a big deal whether you can find people or not. It's something Ninty offers that gives me a hell of an discount without needing to find a discount lol. 

This is easily the worst thread I've read this month, congrats